South heading in right direction

SWIFTWATER — When East Stroudsburg South coach Shawn Munford took the job just over seven weeks ago he knew it was the beginning of a long process.

JOE MIEGOC

swiftwater — When East Stroudsburg South coach Shawn Munford took the job just over seven weeks ago he knew it was the beginning of a long process.

The Cavaliers had already started preseason practice when Munford took over on Nov. 19, but now that the regular season is at the halfway point his team's hard work is starting to pay off.

ES South took another step in the right direction Tuesday as O'Neil Holder equaled his career high with 26 points in a 63-45 victory over Pocono Mountain East in Mountain Valley Conference boys basketball Tuesday.

Eastburg South (5-6, 3-1 MVC) won for the third straight time against a conference foe, with its lone loss a 55-52 setback to two-time defending champion Pocono Mountain West on Dec. 18.

That's been a big jump for the Cavs, who struggled out of the gate with a season-opening 63-35 loss to Emmaus and a 55-47 setback to Delaware Valley five nights later.

"I knew it would be a process," said Munford, a former standout player at Bloomsburg and assistant coach at East Stroudsburg University. "When we played that first game (against Emmaus) we had had about six or seven practices together. It was very difficult to get our game plan in and for me to learn about the guys and try to put them in position to be successful.

"As the season has progressed they're trusting me more, they're trusting each other more and they're trusting the system a little bit more and as a result we're having a little bit more success."

That continued against the Cardinals (1-9, 0-4).

South got out to a quick start, opening up a 14-6 lead after Matt Bird hit a pair of a free throws with 2:36 left in the first quarter. East, which was led by 15 points and six rebounds from Jake Steckel, pulled back to within six, but the Cavs ended the quarter on a 9-0 run to go up 23-8 after the opening eight minutes.

That carried over in the second quarter as ES South stretched the lead to 38-19 going into the locker room on Holder's three-point play with under a second to go.

"We wanted to start off hot," said Holder, who scored 18 points in the first half. "We wanted to come out and play hard from the start."

Holder's scoring has been a constant over the first month of the season, but Munford has plenty of pieces to work with.

Holder has now scored in double figures in his last 10 games, averaging 17.5 points per game in during that stretch, but others have contributed as well. On Tuesday, Dom Quick had five assists and four steals, Kingsley Amoakohene handed out seven assists, Bird scored eight points, grabbed five rebounds and had a block and Kyle Kelly had nine points and three steals.

"The kids work really hard and what I'm trying get them to understand is individually they're pretty talented but as a collective group they can be really good," Munford said. "If they keep working together and meshing their talents with what we're trying to do in our system, I think we'll continue to have a little bit more success."

The Cavs' success continued through the third quarter, but they were tested in the fourth.

Pocono East scored 11 of the fourth's first 15 points to close the gap to 53-40 with 5:41 to go, prompting Munford to call a timeout and rally his team.

"Coach was pretty mad about that," Holder said. "We can't let teams come back like that, but after the timeout we were able to finish what we started and get back to what we were doing in the first half."

Amoakohene's runner started a 10-3 run that helped South push the lead back to 20 and seal its fifth victory of the season.

It was just another step for the Cavs as they continue to get comfortable with each other, their coach and the style of basketball he wants them to play.

"I feel good about the fact that I feel like we're making progress as a team," Munford said. "I'm still learning the league and I'm not really focused on our record too much, but I'm more focused on how we're playing.

"I think we're playing a little bit better and if we continue that our record and everything else will take care of itself."